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“Could be worse.” She crossed back toward the Prius. Luke seemed a lot taller up close than he’d seemed across the counter at Slow Pour, just over six feet, maybe, while Zac was six-three or six-four. “Your brother is a great guy.”
“He’s done a lot for me.” He walked with her around the car and opened the passenger door, an old-fashioned gesture that surprised her. “Sometimes I think I’ll never be able to repay him. Other times I want him to leave me the hell alone so I can make my own way.”
She waited for him to climb into the driver’s seat, again struck by how open Luke was with his thoughts and feelings, even to a virtual stranger. Very different from Zac, who seemed to keep his emotions close. “Weren’t you making your own way when you got arrested?”
“Oh. Well, yeah.” He put the car in gear and moved onto the road. “There’s that.”
“You have a temper?”
“Apparently.”
“With women?”
“Oh, no.” He turned to look at her. “Never like that.”
“The road?” She pointed toward an upcoming curve. “Might want to keep an eye on it?”
“Oh, the road, right. I forgot.” He winked at her, that goofy boyish grin combining with his blue eyes and dark lashes to make him irresistible. She’d bet he could have his pick of women.
The thought strengthened her determination not to succumb. Guys like that—handsome, charming and very aware of it—took it for granted that women would fall for them. She didn’t want to be just another number.
“Where do you want to go?”
She thought for a minute and lit on an improbable destination. “In another half mile or so, turn left onto Old Creek Road.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“Whoa, a woman of mystery.” He chuckled, sounding so much like Zac again that she found herself turning to look at him, as if he might have somehow switched places with his brother.
They drove Oak Creek Road through green-brown hills dotted with occasional clusters of low trees.
“So, do you have a boyfriend?”
Summer choked back a surprised laugh. “You don’t hold back, do you.”
“Why should I? I want to know. If you’re dating a guy with a gun and a jealous streak, I’m letting you out at the next corner. If you’re dating a jerk with an attitude, I’ll sock him in the nose.”
“Because that worked so well for you last time.”
“If—” His laughter interrupted. “If you’re dating a geek who wears plaid shorts, I’ll talk you out of him.”
“And if I’m single?” She flashed him a curious glance, wondering how he’d handle that one.
“If you’re single, the men around here are idiots.”
“Thank you.” She was flattered even if it was probably just a line. “I’m single, taking a break from relationships.”
“Yeah? They haven’t been working out?”
“Nope.”
“How come?”
She shot him an incredulous look. “No boundaries with you, huh?”
“You want some, you just have to tell me.”
She thought that one over for a while. His honesty was refreshing, and in stark contrast to her habit of revealing as little as possible about herself. The less people knew, the less they could judge and find fault. “The last two guys I dated both had serious issues.”
“Psychological?”
“Chemical. And with the law.”
“Yeah?” He glanced over at her. “So you like guys who are trouble?
“Let’s say I’m trying to quit.”
He laughed at that. “Yeah, me, too.”
She let a few more miles go by, not wanting to sound too eager to ask her next question. He seemed comfortable with the silence. She liked that, too. “What about you? Are you single?”
“Single as the day my girlfriend left me.” He spoke with a lilting twang, as if he was singing a country song, and shot her a mischievous grin that took her breath away.
Summer would have to work hard on this not-succumbing thing.
Outside San Miguel, she directed him off Highway 101 and to Mission San Miguel Arcangel, a beautiful church complex dating from the late-eighteenth century.
